Puppeteer
by BakaOniisan
Summary: What if Naegi was actually the Ultimate Puppeteer? Short compilation of stories
1. Chapter 1

Makoto Naegi, student of Hope's Peak Academy 78th class, was a pretty normal looking person. Loved everything that was popular at that the moment. Well, someone completely average. But one day he received a letter inviting him to attend the best Academy of all Japan and maybe the whole world… as the Ultimate Lucky Student.

That's weird. That wasn't what the first letter said.

* * *

Today was his first day and needless to say he was a bit intimidated by all those talented people. Ultimate Soldier, Detective, Fighter and even Heir. No idea how that was a talent though. But now it's his turn.

He stood up, walked to the board in front of his classmates. He put his hands in his pocket just to be sure if all he needed was there. Yes, perfect.

Ouch, the stress was starting to eat him up. He very rarely had such an older public. He hopes he won't mess this up!

"H-Hi! My name is Makoto Naegi and my talent… eh… well I'm not so sure what it is actually." He said then scratched the back of his head at this last sentence, making several students raise an eyebrow.

"What do you mean? Aren't you supposed to be the Ultimate Lucky Student?" Asked the teacher, also raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"I guess? But that's not what the first letter said." he argued.

"What first letter?" the teacher asked again.

"Here I have it right here." Naegi responded by taking out a paper from his back pocket and handing it to the teacher who grabbed it.

"What on Earth? How did he mess that up?!" The teacher shouted at reading the letter then at the list of students, "Urgh! I was wondering why there wasn't a seventeenth student! Alright, kids. I'll be right back. I need to report this to the Headmaster. Don't break anything!"

The teacher concluded before leaving the classroom, leaving Naegi still in front of the students that now had their eyes on him. He was feeling very nervous.

"So you're going to tell us or what?" the red haired one asked out loud, his name was… Leon Kuwata? Yeah. That's right: Leon Kuwata.

"W-What?"

"Your talent! What is it, man?" he continued questioning.

"Yes, I would quite like to know. I am very intrigued." smiled the Ultimate Gambler.

"That's right, how the hell is someone so simple looking like you have any talent whatsoever beside Luck?" mocked Junko Enoshima, she's pretty well known around the world.

"That's mean, Enoshima-san!" exclaimed whom he remembered her name was Aoi Asahina, the Ultimate Swimmer, "Come on! You can tell us!"

"She's right! We won't laugh!" followed Sayaka Maizono.

All those encouragements and demands made Naegi _feel slightly_ uncomfortable and he blushed.

"I… I usually show my talent _to_ children. They really love it."

"So what is it?" asked a little girl in a green dress.

"H-H-He said it was something for children? I-I-I'm sure it's something disgusting!" stuttered the Ultimate Writer, Toko Fukawa, in the back of the room.

"N-No no no! Nothing like that! I do shows for them!"

"Shows?" asked the lavender haired girl in the front row, she hasn't presented herself yet.

"Yes. I was scouted as the **Ultimate Puppet Master.** " Naegi said but quickly followed after seeing some of the student looking at him suspiciously, "But I'm sure they meant **Ultimate Puppeteer** , since I do Puppet Shows! Please call me as such." Naegi smiled then bowed.

The expressions of his classmates went from surprise to stares. One of them asked what kind of talent has a puppeteer, as if they've never been to a puppet show before. Someone else said that this must be kind of easy and anyone could do it. Naegi frowned and took out something out of his pocket.

"Mama-mia! Naegi-san, looks like these bambinos are not believing you!" 'Mario Puppet' said.

Naegi took out the puppet Mario out of his pocket and imitated his voice _perfectly._ This shut up some of the students who were now impressed, until the larger one: Hifumi Yamada said that anyone could do a Mario voice, since it was really easy. He even did a good imitation Mario's voice to support his statement.

"GROOOAR! What did you say? Then I'd like to see you try to imitate others Cartoon characters!" 'Bowser Puppet' roared.

Naegi had now a puppet Bowser on the other hand and was imitating his personality and voice perfectly, now Yamada was screeching in surprise.

Naegi kept doing more imitations with his puppets of cartoon and video game characters going from Scooby Doo to King DeDeDe. After his little performance, most of the student were now impressed. some were applauding, some were finding that very cute and other wanted to see one of the brunette's shows.

He said that he wrote himself the little stories, but they were really for children, so there wasn't any real scenario.

The teacher came back inside the class, chuckling that they've never seen the Headmaster nor Kizakura that embarrassed before. So until then, Makoto Naegi will be known as the **Ultimate Lucky Puppet Master/Puppeteer.**

* * *

 **Baka's note: ** So? What do you think?

I hope you guys liked it and found it cute.

This will be like a compilation of short stories with Naegi as a puppeteer


	2. Storytime

It's been almost a month since Naegi got in Hope's Peak Academy and needless to say that he really liked the place and his classmates.

He already considered them as friends, even if some denied it, and he wanted to learn more about them.

He even started to think of making puppets versions of his classmates and started to work on his imitation of their voices

Eventually sometimes when he noticed that someone was down he asked them which cartoon character would they want to hear cheering them up and he could do most of the requests.

He was also very happy to see their surprised faces when he could imitate very difficult voices or noises some cartoon characters do. For example he could imitate Goofy's falling scream to the perfection he loved to see their amazed faces.

When one day.

"Yo, Naegi! How did you got your title of Ultimate Puppeteer?" Asked Mondo out of the blues one day.

Obviously this question made him smile and everyone was waiting for his response.

"Well, hehe, if I remember well I started when I was around five years old. It was for my little sister Komaru. We used to watch that cartoon every week end but one day our TV had a problem so we couldn't watch the show. She was very upset." He smiled, "So I decided to do the show for her. At the time I didn't had puppet so I crafted one with my socks and some bottle caps. I tried my best to imitate the voices."

Everyone who was listening had a small smile on their faces, this was a story that Naegi loved to share.

"Of course, the first time it wasn't that good so I trained myself to imitate the voices of the characters. After that I really started to enjoy the smile and the stars in Komaru's eyes so I kept working into imitating other characters voices and learned how to craft puppets."

"Wait, so you mean the puppets you have are-?" Asahina cut him with wide eyes.

"Handmade by me, most of them anyways." the puppeteer answered with a smile.

Some of his listening classmates gasped.

"So after doing little shows for my sister for some time I asked my teacher if I could do this too sometimes during class. She said yes. Then it escalated to show for when parents would come over. I guess that one of my classmate's parent was some sort of producer or I don't know but he got his eyes on me and talked with my parents. I was still young to do any kind of 'professional' shows but I started doing them when I was ten."

"So you mean that you did puppet shows for kids since you're _ten_?!" Junko exclaimed.

"Absolutely!" Naegi answered imitating Pete (Disney) with a puppet at his effigy, "It wasn't easy at first but this kid righ'ere worked hard enough to get scooped by Hope's Peak!"

He couldn't hide his smile at seeing all their bright faces at his imitation, how much he missed that. He just hopes he won't bore them soon enough.

"So you were lucky in a way." said Kirigiri.

"Yeah, but if you ask me, luck is somewhat a factor in some talents. It's true that if one of my classmates when I was young wasn't the child of a producer I might still be doing shows for class and maybe have stopped when my public was too old." Naegi added with a sad smile.

"Well I'm glad that you didn't stop! You really have a talent for making those cute puppet shows!" smiled Sayaka.

"Hehe, thanks." the puppeteer sheepishly smiled with a blush.

He really was lucky in a way to be here at Hope's Peak.

* * *

 **Baka's notes:** Yeah, all chapters will be short stories like that. Very short.

Anyway, next chapter is Naegiri


	3. In the Eyes

A month have passed since the beginning of their first high school year at Hope's Peak Academy, and Kirigiri didn't expect to actually enjoy her time.

Today, Naegi asks her to join him in his room, he wanted to ask her something. She didn't know what he wanted, but knowing him, there was no need to be suspicious, the Puppeteer was a nice, open person and probably the only person she trusted enough in the class.

When she arrived at his door, she knocked twice and entered when he welcomed her in from behind the door.

Inside his room was just like the studio of a puppeteer, there was a myriad of puppets representing characters from different games and kids shows. It was impressive to say the least. She looked around a bit as she noticed that the brunette was working on a puppet, it looked strangely like one of their classmates with a pompadour.

He put down his glue gun and turned around to greet his guest, putting his zooming glasses up on his forehead.

"Kirigiri-san! Hi!" He smiled at her.

"Good morning, Naegi-kun. This is an interesting room you have. Aren't you scared at night with all these?" She asked pointing at all the puppets around his bed.

"Oh, I turn them around before going to sleep. I already had many fright with those. I'll tell you guys the story one of these day" he smiled as he took a puppet of Doraemon.

"I see. So? What did you want to ask me?"

"Oh right! Kirigiri-san, do you like Scooby-doo?" He asked with a serious expression.

She raised an eyebrow. Was that what he wanted to know? Only that? She sighed and looked away.

"Yeah, I use to watch it when I was a child, it was pretty nice but now I'm a grown up so I rarely watch it anymore." She answered.

"You really think so?" A Scooby puppet asked with the Scooby voice.

She snapped back at Naegi who had his right hand in a Scooby puppet. She widen her eyes in excitement for half a second before putting back her iron mask. But she noticed a little grin on the ahoge boy's face.

"Your eyes just shined." He stated.

"Excuse me?"

"I saw them too the first day I imitated Scooby and Shaggy, your eyes shined in excitement." The puppeteer smiled, "So the show must have a dear place in your heart."

"H-How can you see that?" She stammered, surprised that Naegi of all people could read her in a fraction of second of inattention.

Naegi smiled nostalgically.

"When I started doing my shows for children, I didn't have a decor to hide behind so I had to stand up on stage and do the show directly. I loved to see the eyes of the children shining with excitement when I imitated their favorite characters perfectly. But these last few years I'm hidden behind and under the window's stage for the puppets. So now I can no longer see their excited eyes full of excitement. Needless to say, I really missed them, thank you for showing them to me again." He smiled brightly to the detective.

He didn't notice that he just made her blush slightly.

"I want to be able to do a stand up puppet show for children like... Uh. Avenue Q , well this show isn't for children but they're very talented, to be able to sing and move the puppets without a window. Of course, I'll need a team for this. Hehe." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Kirigiri regained her senses and put back her mask, "So you asked me to come just to use me to see the 'excited eyes'? That's pretty puppet master from you." She teased with a joke.

"What?! No no no! I-I wanted to see them again, that's true…" he stammered, embarrassed, "But I also wanted your help."

"My help...?"

"Yes, I plan on doing a new Scooby Doo puppet show soon, but I can't just always redo the puppet version of an existing episode. So I wanted to ask you if you could help me writing it." He smiled again.

"But why me?"

"Well, because you love the Scooby show and with your detective experience, I'm sure you could write an amazing Scooby story!" He exclaimed with excitement.

"I... I'll see if I have time. I'll think about it." She said before turning around, hiding another blush, "I need to go now. See you soon." And she departed.

"Thank you very much, Kirigiri-san! Let me know soon!"

She nodded in his direction and he turned back to work on his puppet. She'll be sure to have some time to write some ideas and brainstorm with Naegi one of these days.


	4. Puppets!

**Baka's notes:** I wanted to write a bonus chapter for the Outlast crossover. But at the end I won't do it since it would 'break' the the story and add absolutely nothing.

Anywya enjoy this story!

* * *

 _Puppets!_

Class was about to start, the students got to their places but it seems one of them was missing.

"Has anyone seen Naegi-kun? He's late! This is not welcome in a school environment!" Ishimaru shouted.

"He's probably in his room. But the teacher is also late." Maizono answered.

"He has been working a lot lately. I didn't see him at all Sunday!" Asahina followed.

As the moral compass of the class started to shout that this was not an excuse to be late, a voice boomed from the corridor. Addressing their class.

"SUP GUYS!" Mondo shouted.

"OOWADA-KUN! NO SCREAMING IN THE HALLWAYS!" The red eyed teenager exclaimed.

"Dude. I'm right here."

Everyone turned around to see that _indeed_ the Gang leader was sitting at the corner at the end of the classroom. He looked just as surprised as everyone else.

One by one, the students turned towards the entrance… only to see something very cute.

A Mondo Oowada Puppet.

Naegi poked his head through the doorframe, a tired smile on his face and heavy bags under his eyes.

"Hey guys." He smiled.

And pretty much anyone who could scream at that sight shrieked: Asahina, Junko, Sayaka, Hifumi, Chihiro and surprisingly Leon too.

The real teenager with the pompadour stood up and walked to Naegi, his eyes wide open in surprise.

"I-Is that? Wow! I-I... Really?" He was very surprised indeed.

"Yeah, dude! I'm a Puppet version of ya'! Pretty cool, heh?" 'Puppet' Mondo exclaimed as he pointed at the real one.

Mondo was flabbergasted, he didn't know what to say. Be he certainly was feeling happy about this. Meanwhile everyone around was starting to wonder if Naegi would also do a puppet version of them too. And if they would be as cute as this one.

The little puppet looked at its extended 'hand' and grumbled.

"Hey, don't leave me hanging!"

"Oh! S-Sure!" The Biker gasped as he slowly fist bumped the little puppet who nodded after the bump, "Naegi, dude. This is fuckin' amazing!"

"Thank you. Is my voice imitation good enough?" Naegi asked before a yawn.

"Yes, I really thought it was Oowada-kun shouting. You even managed to imitate his manner of speaking." Kirigiri analysed as she approached the teenagers.

"Did you spend the whole weekend crafting the puppet?" Sakura asked.

"Well, the puppet wasn't the hard part." The puppeteer smiled, "it's imitating the voice the difficult part. I spent the whole Sunday trapped in my room working on it."

Everyone nodded understanding but Ishimaru quickly walked to him with a glare.

"Naegi-kun! This is adorable indeed but it is not an excuse for being late!" The moral compass scolded.

"Come on man, give Naegichi some slack!" Hagakure complained.

"A-Am I really late?" The ahoge boy suddenly noticed, "oh sorry. I didn't ' see the time, I was really working hard on the puppet."

"W-Well. Since you've been working… I-I guess I can let this slide just for once!" The red eyed teen said as he straightened his body as if he was going to salute.

"Thank you Ishimaru-kun." The Puppeteer smiled again.

Junko grabbed Naegi's arm with the puppet and slightly twisted it to look at the marionette up close.

"Wow! I am impressed! There's some details here! Were you staring at Oowada like a creep to know all of them?" She grinned

"W-well, I've been observing all of you a lot." He answered, "Wait that sounded weird." He backtracked.

Before Junko or anyone could start rampaging about Naegi being a stalker, Celeste stepped forth.

"Am I to assume you will also make puppet version of the rest of us?"

"Of course! You guys are so unique and have interesting personalities! Can't wait to make the puppets, and I hope you guys will like them too." He smiled at the gambler.

"Naegi Makoto-dono! Having such high level skills in crafting, but also in observation! Please, can I ask for a request?!" Yamada suddenly shouted.

"M-maybe later Yamada-kun." Naegi laughed tiredly.

The teacher eventually appeared, got scolded by Ishimaru and class was about to start.

Mondo asked if he could borrow the Puppet version of himself for a while and being the kind hearted that he was, Naegi let him have it for as long as he wanted.

Mondo played a bit too much with it, but he was being careful enough not to break it.

Some students started to wonder how their own puppet version will look like and were excited at the thought.

Unfortunately Naegi fell asleep during class, he couldn't hear all the whispered compliments. But he smiled in his sleep anyway.


	5. Voice

**Baka's note:** There might b some strange thing about what Sayaka says. And I'm sorry if it doesn't mke sense ;w;

* * *

 _Voice_

A few weeks have passed since Naegi presented his Mondo Puppet, he made other puppets of his classmates like Yamada and Asahina, but as he was finishing his latest one, he got an idea for a future show. But he needed the advice and help of one of his classmate.

He called this classmate and asked him to come to his room.

Thankfully, she was pretty fast as just a few minutes later, he heard his doorbell ring. He stood up and opened the door for his friend.

"Hello Naegi-kun." Sayaka Maizono smiled.

"Good morning, Maizono-san. Please come in!" The puppeteer invited.

Stepping inside the room she could immediately see the myriad of puppets everywhere in the room: on the walls, floor and bed. She couldn't stop herself from giggling and commenting about this, which made the ahoge teen blush.

"Oh?" she wondered, "Is that…" she smiled more as she pointed at the puppet on the desk.

"Yup! My next puppet version of one of our classmate! Celeste! Do you think it looks enough like her?" he asked as he put his right hand inside the puppet, making it open its mouth and move its

arms.

"It look just like her! This is so great! Can you imitate her?"

"Well, I'm gonna try."

Naegi coughed then slowly raised his left hand to his mouth, the puppet imitating him, his whole facial expression changed into a more smuggy one.

"Oh my~! Good morning everyone. Yamada-kun, could you please be a good servant and go make me some Tea with Milk? That would be very nice, thank you." He imitated his gambler classmate.

"Hahaha! You imitated her way of speaking so well!"

"Thank you! I still have to work in the voice itself." he scratched the back of his head while blushing before putting down the puppet.

"So, you wanted my help with something. Was that it?" Sayaka reminded him.

"Oh right. Yes! Well you see, I had the idea of singing on one of the shows and maybe one day sing one of your songs!" he smiled.

At hearing that, Sayaka's eyes widened, her skin slightly paled and a drop of sweat started rolling down one side of her face. But Naegi didn't see any of these, he was busy staring at the ground in embarrassment of that idea.

"Do you think it's a good idea?"

"Naegi-kun." the idol called him, in a serious tone, "Tell me. Did you ever think of doing… Something else?"

"Hm? Wh-What do you mean?" Naegi looked up, "You think I should stop being a puppeteer?"

"N-No no no! I really love what you're doing and it suits you so well! I saw one of your show in mid school and it was great!" Sayaka rectified herself, "What I meant is that… you have such a talent with your voice! You could do so many things! Like voice acting, or singing…"

She took a deep breath.

"Naegi-kun, what would you do if some agent asked you to sing for them, to become some singer?"

"I'll turn it down."

"But why?! You could be so successful."

"Watching the children smile in my shows is enough for me." Naegi smiled, and it just frustrated Sayaka more.

"But if you become a singer, you'll see so many more smiles and people around the world will see you!" she exclaimed.

Naegi jumped at the sudden shout, "Maizono-san why-" he shut his mouth as he could now distinguish her expression more precisely, "Maizono-san…"

"Do you see me as a possible threat for you career?" he asked with concern present on his face. "If that's the case, you don't have to worry. I've already declined many offers before." he smiled.

"What?"

"Yeah. I sometimes get some propositions to become a voice actor. But I said no. I wanted to become a puppeteer. I love seeing the smiles of the children and everyone who look at my work after and during a show. It makes me feel good." He smiled as he looked at the puppets all around him, so many memories.

"I have to admit I am kind of honored to be seen as some sort of rival, but before everything else: you're my friend Maizono-san, and I'll never do anything that might put your career at risk like that." The puppeteer smiled brightly at his friend.

Sayaka looked down in shame. She should have known that Naegi wouldn't do something like that, and his request to learn how to sing better wasn't a threat for her. She smiled and looked up at him.

"Thank you, Naegi-kun. I'm sorry for thinking like that."

"No no no, this isn't your fault."

"Alright! So when would you like to start practicing?"

"Uh? So you're okay with helping me?"

"Of course!"

* * *

That went better than expected! He had to admit that he was surprised about what Sayaka said but it's alright.

Suddenly his phone rang, he looked at the number… He didn't recognize it… Well, let's see!

"Hello?... Yes that's me… Wait, are you serious?!... For real?... O-Of course! That would be an honor! This is one of my dreams coming true! I could never thank you enough!... But did you-... Oh! Already! Then I'm on! Let me just warn my parents!... When's the flight?"

His day just got so much better!

* * *

 **Baka's note:** Another short chapter.

This time it's Naezono.

And what was that call in the end? Find out in the next chapter


	6. Spooky

When Sayaka walked in the room, she was surprised to see Naegi already sitting in his seat at the center of the room. He always used to come exactly on time and never in advance unlike Taka. He had a big smile on his face, beaming with excitement.

"Hello, Naegi-kun. You look happy." she greeted with her usual smile.

"Hi! Yes, I am indeed. Something awesome happened to me, I'll have to talk to the teacher after." The Puppeteer smiled back.

"Ooh! What is it?"

"Secret~!" Naegi's smile went wider.

After a few minutes, everyone else gathered and sat on their respective seat. And as always, the teacher arrived with a few minutes late, and got scolded once more by Taka for their tardiness.

Before the teacher could start, Naegi asked if they got the message from the Headmaster and he confirmed it.

"That's right… You have your flight in two days."

"Flight? What flight?" Some students asked in confusion.

"Hm… Naegi Makoto is leaving for a work abroad for a month starting this Wednesday. Who would like to take notes of the lessons for him?" The teacher asked and Taka immediately raised his hand, "Ishimaru-kun then."

"Where are you going?" Mondo asked.

"In the US." The Puppeteer smiled.

"What for?" Sayaka asked in turn, very curious.

"That's a secret~ But I'll let you know in time."

Now everyone was certainly curious…

* * *

"Hey Naegi boy!" Junko, laying on her chair with her high heels boot on top of her desk, called out to get the Puppeteer's attention, and she did.

"Yes, Enoshima-san?"

"Have you ever used String Puppets?" she asked.

It was lunch and everyone was lucky that Taka left with Mondo out of the class, because if he was there he'd be yelling at many students who decided to get comfy with laying their legs on the desks before packing their stuff.

"Oooh! Like Pinocchio?" Asahina beamed.

"Exactly! So, do you?"

Every student present in the room turned to the young boy, waiting for an answer.

"Hmm… I do… But It's been a long time since I used Skely. I wasn't very comfortable with manipulating him." Naegi pondered, "Want me to get him?" He smiled to his friends.

Everyone nodded, wanting to see what he was capable of. And with that, Naegi stood up and left the room after telling them that he'll get him before next class and after lunch.

Then lunch happened.

Everyone was already back at their seat, all except Naegi who went to get 'Skely'...

And suddenly, a small hand poked out of the door frame.

"Nyehehe! Hello children! Who's ready for a spooky dance?" They heard a mocking almost high pitched voice come out of the hallway.

Naegi walked in the room, dragging a dancing skeleton string puppet who was shaking its hips.

"OH MY GAAAAAWD!" Junko screeched in excitement.

"ADORABLEEEE!" Asahina followed and every excited student ran to the puppeteer to see 'Skely' closer.

Naegi presented them to the little skeleton and explained why he stopped using him... It was just because he prefered hand puppets actually.

"Why though?" Kirigiri asked.

"Well… the strings gets tangled very easily and the handles also get broken quickly with my badluck. And unlike a puppet that I just need to stitch it back. I have to buy new components for the repairs." Naegi explained, "But I had a lot of fun with Skely. Right?" The Puppeteer smiled and made the little skeleton string puppet nod and laugh.

"Nyehehe! We sure had a ton of fun together, little boy! You could even say... A _Skele_ ton! Nyeeeeeeeehehehehe!" Everyone booed at the lame pun.

They all spent a good day with the dancing skeleton. Some trying to move him around and Naegi trying to make him dance like Sayaka.

* * *

Naegi finished packing his belongings. The flight will be next morning… But he'll need someone to help him bring the luggage to the taxi the next morning… It would be the perfect opportunity to speak with Mukuro Ikusaba!

* * *

 **Baka's note:** Next chapter: Naekusaba!

Also, next work I'm doing is a Lobotomy Corp fanfiction collab with Queen_of_Love (Miss_mimikins) called 'A Shot in the Dark', you can go check it out! And after this chapter is done, it will be the next of Normality in Lobotomy, it's been a long time I've been this inspired with my writings.


	7. Farewell for now

Just as Naegi requested the prior evening, Mukuro knocked on his door early in the morning to help him with his luggage.

"Ah! Ikusaba-san! I'm coming!" She heard Naegi exclaim from behind the door.

A few seconds later, the door opened and she saw that, like he said yesterday, he did have at two enormous bags.

"Thank you so much for helping me!" Naegi smiled as he turned around to grab the first one.

Luckily he had his back turned so he wouldn't see Mukuro's faint blush on her freckled cheeks when he smiled.

Mukuro didn't have any problem at taking one of the big bags. They were pretty heavy but she carried heavier before. She was surprised though to see Naegi being able to lift the other bag that was as heavy as hers. Well he did need to rest ten seconds every 20 meters, but she never expected him to be able to do that.

After a few minutes, they reached the entrance gates of the school… way too early.

The taxi will not be here for another 20 minutes.

They both sat down on the bench close by. After a minute of silence, Mukuro excused herself as she was about to leave.

"Have a good flight, Naegi-kun."

"Wait what, you're leaving already? Please stay a bit more until the taxi arrives." Naegi tried to hold her back.

"...Fine." she nodded and sat back down.

After another minute of silence, she thought that she decided she didn't like this and took all her courage to say what was on her heart since she learnt about Naegi's flight.

"...It's going to be a bit lonely when you're gone…" she whispered.

"Why would you say that?"

"I-I… I mean that it's going to be less lively at class. You were pretty much the one who linked all our classmates together with your stories and puppets of us…" Mukuro answered, looking down, "... I… We're going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you guys too." Naegi smiled, "But I'm sure you guys can survive a month of class without me, right? I mean, you could survive when I was gone for shows for a day and sometimes a week!" he laughed.

But Mukuro didn't laugh much. The others wouldn't have any problems to wait for him…

Naegi immediately noticed the sadness in her eyes and tried to think for a solution to make the bad feeling disappear.

"Hey, wanna try something cool?" he suddenly asked with a big goofy grin.

That took the soldier by surprise, who could only nod hesitantly.

"S-Sure, what is it?" she answered.

When she saw him opening one of the large bag, she was going to tell him that he didn't need to undo it for her sak, but he beat her to the punch as he told her that it's no biggy and it will not be hard to put it back.

In one minute, he took out an enormous puppet from there. It was dressed in a dark suit, had a round head, green eyes and wavy brown hair going back. Naegi was smiling.

"What is this? I've never seen a puppet so big." Mukuro said, pointing at it.

"Oh? You've never seen a two-man puppet? It's also known as a 'human-arm puppet'. See? You put your arm there and put your hands there like if it was a glove." Naegi explained as he demonstrated what he meant, "Come-on you try for the right hand."

"Wh-What?"

"Come on! it will be fun!"

With hesitation, she approached the puppet and imitated what the puppeteer did a few seconds ago. Her right hand was now in the puppet's.

"Now what?"

"Hm… I apologize for this, but I'll have to get rather close to you." Naegi apologized as he went right next to Mukuro.

 _Too close_ to be exact.

As he shoved his right hand up the puppet to reach the head then lifted the two-man puppet over his own head.

"Hello ladies and gentlemens, this morning we have the young Naegi boy leaving for a month to the United States for a secret mission." Naegi started to narrate with a deep voice like a commentator TV, moving the mouth of the puppet in rhythm with his words and the left hand moving around for more emphasis.

But Mukuro wasn't moving the right hand of the puppet or even her body. She was frozen and blushing with the fact that Naegi was standing _way too close_!

"Ikusaba-san, are you alright? You're all red. It's not heavy, I hope." Naegi asked as he noticed that she wasn't moving an inch.

"Ah. Uuuh…"

Crap! He noticed her. She turned to face him but noticed his right hand spasming a bit and trembling.

"Naegi-kun… Is the puppet that heavy?" She asked.

"Oh. Well, kinda. Just look for yourself," the ahoge boy said as he put down the big puppet and handed it to the soldier.

Well, it was heavy alright, but nothing alarming like the exercises she did at Fenrir. But still… she looked at Naegi's arms, they didn't seem built but…

"Naegi-kun... flex your arm, please."

"Wha-?! Uh… Okay? L-Like that?" he asked, his face red of embarrassment as he never really did that in the past, even less for a girl.

"Wow." was all Mukuro found to say.

Naegi had more muscles than anyone could have thought! Is lifting puppets over your head that much of an exercice?

The Puppeteer let out a little embarrassed laugh at seeing Mukuro's slightly blushed face.

After they put back the Puppet inside the case, the taxi arrived a bit earlier. It was time to go.

"Well then. Thank you so much, Ikusaba-san! I'll see you in a month, but we can keep contact with e-mails you know." Naegi told her as he put the last luggage in the trunk.

"S-Sure… Have a safe flight, Naegi-kun." Mukuro waved at him.

"Thank you! Bye!" The ahoge boy waved back from inside the taxi before it departed.

Mukuro stayed at the gate a bit longer, watching the car drive away.

One month… He'll be back in one month.

* * *

 **Baka's notes:** And there we go with the Naekusaba chapter!

Lifting puppets is actually very tiring for the arm and a very great exercise, so I can't even imagine lifting a two-man puppet alone and having to lift it over your head for maybe hours.

Also, my next update will be the first chapter of my first A Silent Voice/Koe no Katachi fanfiction.  
It's not really known, but there's a movie and a manga and it's one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It's sad, very sad. But oh so beautiful. So if you guys haven't read the manga or watched the movie, go do it so you can enjoy and support the fanfic to the fullest!

And so, I bid you 'See ya!'

Ugh, class starts in two days.


End file.
